The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1887-03-17
TEACHERS DEPARTMENT.
ARTHUR KiBLHR. EDITOR.
40 sbiTrrlncc in Tuition.

40 Disferancc in Tuition.
1t is an established usage that
children in the schools in which tu-
itioa is charged shall pay according
t. the grade in which they are placed.
The highest grade usually pays three
times and sometimes four times as
mitch as the lowest. This custom
has been handed down from genera
ton to generation. This, however.
does not show that it is right The
teaching of the little ones is worth
nearly as much, if not as much, as
those moro advanced. Ask any
teacher, endeavoring to do his whole
duty to every child committed to his
care. which he would rather teach.
the little ones or the larger ones, and.
among men especially. nine times out
of ten, the latter we would find to be
preferred. What is the reason of
this: 1t is plain enough. They are
less trouJle. Why then charge more
for doing that which gives us the
least real work? The States appro-
pirate money for the education of
children between certain ages, and
make no distinction on account of
age. Our State does not say to the
boards of trustees: You must give
more for the advanced children than
for those just beginning. No, she
makes no distinction on account of
age or Color Why then should the
pay school make difference? Is it
because the older children are of
more Importance? Is it because
they need some peculiar training not
suited to the child in the lower grade?
If it IS, We would be glad to know in
what it consists. Some may claim
that it requires more highly educated
men to instruct the advanced pupils
than those not SO far advanced. Men
who have given their time and mo-
ncy to become eminently qualified to
adorn the profession they are to fol-
low. 1t would be humiliating to ask
those great men to stoop so loar as to
take the child of eight years and lead
him gently up the rugged hill of
learning. These educated men would
rather leave the profession than do
such a condescending work They are
willing, or at least appear to be, to sit
in the professors chair in the higher
institutions and for 3, 4 or perhaps 5
hours in day, lecture to the ad-
ranced students on the great truths
Of science. These udcanced students
must pay great deal for the privi-
lege Of hearing the true solution of
such mysterious things, which often
have tendency to unfit rather than
fit them for Intelligent citizenship.
Some one will say that we have
left the subject we started with, and
are makingwar upon the higher in
stitutions, and claim that they teach
those things which might be easily
dispensed with. Not so, however.
We are simply trying to show that
the difference in tuition, and the er-
roneous idea in regard to the younger
pupils, drive the most efficient work
ers into the higher institutions of
learning. and leave the field in which
they can do the most good, vacant.
Suppose that Newberry County had
% or 30 teachers as thoroughly pre-
pared as the professors in our col
leges: what a great change there
would be within the next ten wears.
As long, however. as the education
Of the little ones is considered of
such little worth, and as long as the
rur recruits in the teachers ranks
are thought competent to instruct
them, we will always be behind.
Let the time come, however, when
every child shall be considered of
equal Importance aid worthy Of
equal attendance, and we will find
that our educational prospects will
brighten.
We will find that the educated
men and women of the country will
seek positions in our common schools
because they will know that with a
reasonable tuition. all scholars pay
ing the same, they can earn com
Portable support.
It is wrong, it is dangerous to
teach the people of a country that
the training of their little ones is OF
little Importance, and can be entrust-
ed to any one who has joined the
teachers ranks. For all grades eff
cient and skillful instruction is ne
cessary. and all should pay the same